A Shot in the Dark
by SerpentPoison
Summary: Assigned to the Enterprise as their xenobiologist, the sister of the famous James T. Kirk is determined to get her brother and his first officer together. But to do that, Skylar must keep her younger brother alive and help him realize how deep his affections for his first officer run and convince Spock that loving Jim Kirk is never, nor will it ever be, a bad thing. Spirk. OCXOC
1. Chapter One: A Familiar Face

**A/N: Out of all of the stories that I have written, I believe that this one warrants an introduction to explain why I have added a character that seems to be unimportant to the overall plot idea. My idea behind this story is to have Spock and Jim's prerelationship and relationship analyzed, observed, and aided by someone who is very close to Jim: specifically a family member. I briefly thought about bringing an existing family member into it instead, but I did not like the idea so I created Skylar Kirk. I'm sure that some of you think that the introduction of her as Jim's sister is unnecessary to the story and I'm sorry you feel that way, but I like the ideas that I had involving her specifically.**

**That being said, this story will mostly be told from Skylar's point of view (occasionally with Jim and Spock's thrown in). Don't be fooled, this story is still KirkXSpock all the way with some OCXOC stuff that will occur in later chapters. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of the characters, places, or the Enterprise. I just own the original characters and the plot that I came up with.**

**Please enjoy the first installment of A Shot in the Dark!**

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**A Shot in the Dark**

_"You must remember, family is often born of blood, but it doesn't depend on blood. Nor is it exclusive of friendship. Family members can be your best friends, you know. And best friends, whether or not they are related to you, can be your family."  
-Trenton Lee Stewart_

**Chapter One: A Familiar Face**

* * *

Captain James T. Kirk had a headache: the "my head is about to explode" kind, not the "wow, my head hurts a little" kind. The blonde groaned and rolled over in his bed to look at the digital clock. Jim made a noise of distress when he saw that he was late to his shift on the bridge, jumping up quickly before immediately groaning at the pain that the sudden movement had caused. He rushed to the sonic shower, taking what he was sure to be the fastest shower in his history-maybe in the history of humans.

Jim didn't even bother to dry off before throwing on his regulation gold shirt and black pants before making a mad dash to the bridge, attempting to ignore the ever growing headache.

"Captain on the bridge," Sulu said when Jim made his entrance.

"Captain, are you well? You are 7.2 minutes late. We are scheduled to arrive at Star Base 214V in approximately 1.6 minutes," Spock commented as Jim sat down in the chair.

Jim ignored the strange feeling in his stomach when his First Officer raised an eyebrow slightly in a very Vulcan display of concern, blaming all strange bodily functions on his developing headache-gone-migraine. The Vulcan was still staring at him as Jim massaged his temple irritably.

"Approaching Star Base 214V. Estimated time to dock: three minutes," Chekov said, his accent causing him to stumble slightly base identification.

"Captain, should we not go to the transporter room to greet the new crew members?" Spock asked, snapping Jim out of his haze of pain.

"Of course, Spock!" Jim said cheerfully as he launched himself out of the chair, "Sulu, you have the conn."

Bones was already waiting with four people when the two arrived in the transporter room: two in blue and two in red.

"You're late," Bones acknowledged grumpily, "You hand them over to me for a medical exam as soon as you introduce yourself."

"Sorry, Bones," Jim answered good naturedly before looking at the first woman, in the science blues, "Welcome aboard the Enterprise, I am her captain, Jim Kirk, and this is my first officer, Spock."

"Doctor Marie Bennet, a pleasure to meet you captain"

"Doctor? Doctor of what exactly?" McCoy asked gruffly.

"I am a psychologist. Since you never know what a crew might experience on a five year exploration of space- especially since an exploration of this caliber has not been attempted yet- the admirals thought you would need someone of my expertise along for the ride," she answered with a calm smile, "Other than that, I'm here to assist in the medbay however Dr. McCoy needs me."

"Well doctor or not you still need a physical exam and inoculations."

"Of course, Doctor."

"Nice to have you aboard!" Jim said cheerfully.

He turned to the next woman in blue and froze.

"Captain?" he heard Spock inquire.

"Skylar?"

"It is good to see you, James," the woman said with a smile.

Spock tensed slightly, only noticed by Skylar who was facing in his direction, "You should not address your captain so casually."

Skylar's broad smile widened, reminding Spock suspiciously of someone else. When he finally took in the dark blonde hair and bright blue eyes, Spock came to the same conclusion that his captain was just now informing him of.

"Spock, this is my older sister, Skylar Kirk. She's the only one who calls me James," Jim pouted at his first officer.

"I am a xenobiologist, specializing in humanoids, but I do take a special interest in Vulcans," Skylar said cheerfully, in a very similar tone that Jim had.

"Skylar!" Jim whined, "Don't flirt with my first officer!"

"Oh, James, I'm not flirting with him. I can already tell he is taken by another," she smiled directly at the Vulcan before excusing herself to be examined by Dr. McCoy.

Spock mentally flinched when she brushed against him and was struck with a powerful thought projection. _Good luck. He is stubborn. Sorry for the contact, but you needed to know that I support you_.

"Fascinating," Spock said, mostly to himself, as he watched the woman leave for her checkup with Dr. McCoy.

Skylar looked back in time to see her brother tug on his first officer's hand to get him to do something. After that, she rounded a corner and could see no more of the pair.

_Jim has fallen just as hard. He just hasn't realized it yet._

* * *

"So, you're Jim's sister. He never told me about you," Bones said with a frown at the woman who hopped up on the biobed.

Skylar quieted immediately, "Jim doesn't like to dwell on memories of our home life and I don't either. I couldn't always protect my baby brother. I went to the academy when I was young; Jim isn't the only genius in our family. I haven't seen him for a very long time. I always tried to contact him, but our step-father prevented it."

Marie put a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder, "You have the next five years to catch up."

"You're right," Skylar grinned, reminding Bones instantly of the same grin that Jim always had.

"Why do you call him James when you're around him but not now?" Bones asked as he prepared a new clipboard for the woman.

"Because it bothers him," Skylar grinned wickedly, "I don't always call him James when I'm with him. Just when I want to bug him."

Bones took the medical exam as an opportunity to discover the similarities between Jim and Skylar. Both of them had dirty blonde hair- granted Skylar's fell to her midback and was held up in the messiest ponytail Bones had ever seen on a full grown woman. Her eyes were the same electric blue as the beloved captain's, even possessing the same mischievous spark.

"Well Bones, how do I check out?" Skylar asked with a lopsided grin.

"Why are you calling me that?" he snapped as he rummaged through a medical drawer for the hypospray he was looking for.

"Isn't that what Jim calls you? I like it," she answered, "What are you looking for?"

"I have to give you a hypo for the inoculations you haven't had yet."

In an instant, Skylar was immediately off the biobed and flying out the automated doors of the medbay. Bones blinked slowly as it dawned on him that the woman wasn't there when he looked up at the sound of closing doors.

"Dammit Jim. Now I know where you get this from."

The only response he got was a chuckle from Dr. Bennet.

* * *

Jim stared at the food replicator, his pain addled brain trying to decide what exactly he wanted to eat and how to get the machine to give it to him with making the least amount of noise as possible.

'Hello, Jim!" a female voice said cheerfully, making the captain wince.

Skylar took one look at the expression on her brother's face and frowned, "How long have you had a headache? Why haven't you been to see Bones yet? How bad does it hurt?"

"How did-?"

She smiled, "I'm your older sister, James. I just know these things. Now come on. I'll take you to the medbay."

Jim groaned as his sister took his arm, "Will you stop calling me that?"

"Nope. Would you rather me call you Tiberius?"

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**A/N: And that's the first chapter/introduction. Thoughts? What do you think? Please review! Your reviews sustain me! I plan on updating this story once a week on the weekend (Sunday will probably be the day I usually update on). I'm really excited about this story so stick with me! I think you will enjoy the ride :)**


	2. Chapter Two: For Jim

**A/N: WOW! Thanks for the encouraging reviews :) You guys are awesome! Like I said, I plan on updating this every Sunday unless something comes up (like exams or family matters, you know. Sadly I can't write fanfiction for a living!). Ok! Enjoy Chapter Two! And please review! They make me a happy authoress! **

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**A Shot in the Dark**

_"One day you will do things for me that you hate. That is what it means to be family." _  
_― Jonathan Safran Foer_

**Chapter Two: For Jim**

* * *

"I didn't think you would come back so fast," Bones said when he heard someone come in, "You still have to have the hypo for your inoculations. You can't work aboard the Enterprise if you don't."

"I'll take the hypo without complaint if you help Jim."

Bones' head snapped up from his work. He took one look at Jim's pained expression before jumping up, a hypo already in hand.

Skylar let a nurse give her the inoculations that she required and left the medbay, knowing that she left her brother in the good hands of Dr. McCoy.

Sadly, this left Skylar with nothing to do. Her plan for the day had been to annoy her dear younger brother and catch up on all the lost years. She almost wished that she didn't have a day to relax before she started her duties as a science officer. Skylar sighed dejectedly.

"Is there a problem, Lieutenant Kirk?"

"I am just at a loss of what to do," she said with another sigh, "I wanted to spend time with my brother, but he's landed himself in medbay."

Skylar watched as Spock's eyes widen minutely in alarm. She was suddenly thankful that she had spent so much time on Vulcan during the field experience portion of her schooling. She could easily detect the small changes in a Vulcan's features that depicted emotion, even though they would vehemently deny such an occurrence.

"He is in no danger. I just ran into him earlier in the mess deck. I could tell he had a pretty powerful migraine, so I took him to see Dr. McCoy. He should be thanking me. I had to get my inoculations because I went back."

"A migraine?"

Skylar nodded thoughtfully, "He's probably had it all day. And now that he's there, I have nothing to do."

After Spock had been assured that his captain was not in any immediate, life threatening danger, he cocked his head slightly, "I would not be opposed to a game of chess, Lieutenant Kirk."

"Call me Skylar, please. I would be honored to play chess with you Commander Spock. I used to play with Jim all the time before I left for school. I used to kick his butt too," she grinned.

"I do not understand. Why would you kick him while playing chess. Chess is not a physical activity, but rather a mental-"

Skylar chuckled, "Commander, it is a human figure of speech. It means that I beat him in chess a lot."

"I see. Human speech has fascinating quirks, but it is highly illogical."

"I thought you would say that," Skylar replied as they walked towards Spock's quarters, "I got that a lot when I was on Vulcan."

"You stayed on Vulcan?" he asked, mildly curious, "I was unaware."

She nodded, "It was where I chose to do my field experience. It took me quite a while to gather the data that I wanted. Even when I did, I was explicitly told by the Vulcan counsel in the most Vulcan way that I could not publish my research or findings about Pon Farr and my in depth analysis of Plak Tow."

Spock stared at her, completely frozen, his hands still on the keypad to enter the code for his quarters, "How do you know all of this information? Vulcans are very-"

"Very secretive," Skylar interrupted, "Trust me I know. It took a whole bunch of favors and research in the libraries. But ultimately, I got the most help on the physical side of Vulcans from Amanda Grayson. I am sorry for your loss, Commander."

"It is illogical for you to apologize for a tragedy that is no fault of your own. I do, however, appreciate the sentiment," Spock replied smoothly as he finally opened the door to his quarters.

He strolled across the room and grabbed a chess set from one of the shelves. He sat down in a chair and started to set up the 3D chess set on the table before him. He nodded to her, indicating that she should sit in the chair opposite of him.

Skylar raised an eyebrow and sat down in the cozy chair, "Speaking of the things that your mother told me. She gave me an in depth look into the significance of certain types of hand contact among Vulcans. and what different things meant So I find it surprising that you engage in such acts with my brother in the presences of others. Though I am sure that James is unaware of what the contact means. In fact, just earlier today I saw the both of you involved in a heavy petting session by Vulcan standards as I left the transporter room with Dr. McCoy and Dr. Bennet. However, I doubt that you stopped him. I knew my brother had a scandalous reputation, but this is new."

Skylar's grin widened when she heard a growl start low from within the half-Vulcan.

She lowered her voice and whispered, "Commander Spock, does it bother you when I insult your idiot Captain?"

"You will NOT speak of Jim in such a manner!" Spock was towering over her now, the growl growing louder and louder.

"Commander Spock, please. He's my brother. I'm allowed to insult him. We both know that he's not an idiot. Though he does have a rather bad reputation, don't you agree?" Skylar asked thoughtfully.

Within an instant, Spock's hand curled around her throat and Skylar struggled to catch a breath. The wave of uncontrolled fear that Spock felt from the human woman would not have stopped him in his task. However, the small trickle of amusement managed to snap him out of his animalistic haze. He released her immediately.

"Why are you amused? I could have gravely injured you."

Skylar laughed. It was deep, coming from her stomach- just like Jim's did. Spock mentally shook his head. Her accusations had him focused on everything about Jim.

"You proved my theory," she said, still chuckling.

"What theory is that?"

"I wanted to know how deeply you cared for my brother. I was almost positive that you are, in human terms, in love with Jim. T'hy'la."

"You should not know that word."

"Yet I do."

Spock and Skylar stared at each other in silence as Spock processed what all the mere human knew about the Vulcan culture- especially of the things she was not supposed to know.

"You did not deny my claim," Skylar ventured, looking directly into his eyes.

"I did not. But he is not ready."

"I don't think you're ready either. Have you experienced all of the emotions that Jim keeps inside?" Skylar turned serious, a blank expression smoothly covering the emotions in her own features.

"Jim has been through a lot. If you don't know what to expect or the experiences that he had to cause these emotions, you have no way to be prepared for the onslaught of emotions when you meld with him for the first time."

"What are you suggesting that I do, Lieutenant Kirk?"

"I suggest you work with someone who has a similar mindscape."

"What person would you recommend for such an endeavor? Not many humans are willing to go through such a personal task with a Vulcan, even if it is for the sake of the Captain."

"I see you're back to calling him captain instead of his name. You must've calmed down greatly," Skylar smirked before growing serious once more, "I will volunteer. He's my brother and he deserves happiness. I know what he's been through. Though it may not be firsthand, I'm sure it will help you to understand and deal with these emotions when you two meld. I want him to be happy."

Spock was starting to look more curious now, "And how do you propose that was go about this?"

Skylar tapped her fingers on the forgotten chess board, organizing her thoughts before speaking, "I think that you will have to initiate a meld with me. Is that ok with you?"

"That is acceptable."

"We should actually play chess tonight," Skylar continued, answering Spock's next question before he could even ask it, "Bring it on, Commander."

He did not ask what 'bring it on' meant.

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**A/N: And that's that! Please review! They sustain me! What do you think of Skylar's offer to Spock? Why does she feel the need to help her brother in the first place? Keep with me and all will be revealed!**


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